Boundaries – A McRoll in the REAL World Story
by Mari217
Summary: How well did having Jerry as a house guest go for Steve & Catherine? Find out along with Danny.


_Author's Notes: Sammy, thanks for your invaluable input on this one, for the support you always provide, for **having my back**, as Danny would say, and for the copious amounts of fun! _

_Ilna, for bringing your incredible talents to the REAL World, never failing to make me smile and for that "one for all - all for one" comment, so much appreciated! thanks! _

_To our wonderful McRoll readers & friends. Thanks for your support and for believing when we promised Steve & Catherine **will **_**_always__ be __safe_**_** with us**. _

_____~ Mari_

_._

This fic is a follow up to**_ Strategy_**

_._

**_Boundaries – A McRoll in the REAL World Story_**

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**Saturday, Noon  
Danny Williams' Camaro  
****_Stakeout. Undisclosed, remote location_**

_"Hey, Danny, Jerry found a pattern in those old coin boxes. I'm sending it to your phones now." _Chin's voice sounded tinny over the cell's speaker, but Danny and Catherine heard him well enough._ "Jerry said if we have any questions he's available till seven. And Catherine? __You__ can call him anytime, day or night, if anything else pops up. Even though he doesn't __you, know,_ like_ phones." _

Danny could hear Steve's grumble and the barely restrained laughter in Chin's voice. He grinned at his companion in the confines of the car as he signed off. After shifting to get more comfortable, Danny hoped Steve and Chin got eyes on their suspect before the blazing heat got much worse.

.

**Ten minutes later**

Tap. Tap. Tap. There it was again. Danny looked toward the passenger seat. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Catherine?" Danny reached out and placed his hand gently over his friend's to still the tapping of her fingers on the console.

"Oh, sorry, Danny." She gave him a small smile. "I didn't realize." She shrugged.

"What's up, Hon?" Danny indicated her hands, which she'd folded tightly in her lap.

"Nothing, why?"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I have an eleven year old, remember? Even Grace is better at lying than you were just now."

"I just … the coin boxes. Jerry's pattern. As far as I can tell from the scan Chin sent, it pre-dates the crime so it's not relevant to our case, but …"

Danny smiled knowingly. "But Jerry's gonna ask you if it is. Repeatedly. And check with you to see if we need anything else. Today and then later tonight? Just in case a question comes up?"

She blew out a breath. "Yeah. He means well, but …"

"But, he's been staying at your place for, what, two days now and …"

"Three." She shifted to look at Danny, "and a half. He left early this morning."

"Three and _a half?_ That bad, huh?" Danny started the engine to allow a few minutes of air condition to fill the car.

"Look, I didn't mind, not really. He's sweet, but he just tries _so_ hard, Danny. You know Steve's not jealous and I can handle his little infatuation …"

Danny chuckled, "Little infatuation? Catherine; that is one big '_the pretty cheerleader was nice to me and so I think I love her in spite of her dating the football star'_ crush he's got going on."

"Great. Thanks, make it worse." She rolled her eyes. "And for the record, Danny Williams, I was _never_ a cheerleader. I was an ice skater; I did some gymnastics and martial arts and was extremely focused on my GPA and getting into the Academy."

"No surprise there." Danny grinned. "It was an analogy, just embrace it. Point is, you're kind to Jerry, you'd never mock him and shoot him down. To Jerry, that's huge."

"Why would … oh…" Catherine realized where Danny was coming from.

"You," Danny patted her hand "are a genuinely terrific person, my friend." He said sincerely. "Women, especially smart, beautiful women, aren't always so nice to guys like Jerry, even when high school's long since over. You are. You talk to him like a friend. So, he's a little starry-eyed."

Catherine smiled at him. "Thanks. That's very sweet of you to say.

"Hey, I'm a sweetheart." Danny's eyes twinkled. "But I do get it, Cath, as harmless as Jerry is, he's little … smother-y."

"Is that even a word?" She grinned.

"What is this, _Scrabble_?" Danny laughed. "Today it's a word. He drove you both crazy, right?"

Catherine nodded and continued, "Little bit, yeah." She sighed "He followed Steve around the house like a puppy. Then that first night, he …" She winced slightly as a memory ran through her mind.

"Yeah, I heard."

"You _know_?" She caught his eyes.

"Steve told me," Danny shrugged with a smile, "about Tuesday night." He tilted his head in bewilderment when he saw pink flush her cheeks and ears. "Cath, I know it was a little embarrassing-bordering-on-creepy, but it's not _that_ big a deal, really."

"Yeah ... that's what Steve said too, I just didn't realize he'd said anything … told you …" She shook her head.

"I know the crush makes it more awkward, Cath, but Jerry was probably more embarrassed than you."

"Doubt that." She mumbled, staring straight ahead. "I know it wasn't like he actually _saw_ anything." Catherine's fingers plucked at an invisible thread on the hem of her tank top. "But I can't … relax now, because he's always _right_ _there_ and I keep thinking, 'what if he'd walked in and seen me gi… um _… us_ …'" She flushed anew. "I mean, seen _us_ …" She stopped and smoothed the fabric of her top with both hands.

Danny had seen Catherine struggle for words exactly twice in the four years he'd known her. Once was the previous month following blow to the head, once was when Grace and called her _Auntie_ for the first time to her face. And he'd seen her truly embarrassed exactly zero times. He quickly realized they were _definitely_ not talking about the same thing. "We're absolutely not discussing Jerry and your laundry here, are we?"

"_That's_ what Steve told y…" She turned back to face Danny and tilted her head. Realizing she'd said way more than she needed to, her hand involuntarily went to her mouth. "Oh, shit. No. We are _not_ discussing laundry." A chuckle escaped through her fingers. "Ah, what the hell … I might as well tell you now." She sighed.

Danny smiled at her more relaxed body language. "You don't have to, Hon. I think I can pretty much guess. If, however, it was really embarrassing for Steve, then by all means give me enough ammo to bust his chops, because I _told_ that idiot not to let Jerry stay at the house."

"What did Steve tell you?" Catherine grinned at Danny's 'wanting ammo'.

"That when Jerry did his laundry, yours and Steve's had already been in the dryer. And he was a little, um, shall we say, awestruck when he took it out and it contained what Nonna would call your 'unmentionables'.

"Ah. Yeah, that was awkward." Catherine smiled. "He ended up just taking out our whole load of dry laundry and handing Steve the basket."

"How'd that work out?" Danny visualized his partner's face when he realized Jerry was holding a laundry basket containing his girlfriend's underwear and stifled a laugh.

"You mean how did Steve make it a thousand times worse by telling Jerry he was sure I wouldn't appreciate knowing he went tongue tied at the fact he knows what I've got on under my clothes?" Catherine snickered in spite of herself. "He said Jerry nearly stroked out. I'm glad I was upstairs."

Danny nodded, laughing at the image of Steve and Jerry having that particular exchange. "Yeah well, how long afterwards did Steve ask him to leave?"

"He didn't. Not till last night."

"Last night?" Danny looked shocked. "Took him that long, huh?"

Catherine nodded. "Steve asking him to leave was kind of my fault. See, later on Tuesday night, after the laundry thing, when Jerry came upstairs …" She glanced away and back at Danny. "I was … um, we were … and he knocked on the door to say goodnight." She cringed.

Danny laughed out loud. "I'm sorry."

Catherine glared. "You are not." She smacked him lightly on the arm, but couldn't help the grin that formed at Danny's look. "I almost jumped out of my skin."

"I am, Hon, really. But, wait, Jerry did _walk_ _in_ on you guys? Because no way he'd still be there three _minutes_ after that, let alone three days. Steve would've had him gone in a heartbeat."

"No!" Catherine shuddered. "He didn't walk in. Thank _God_ Steve had locked the door. I guess he figured 'just in case', because we normally don't even close it we're home alone. Anyway, Jerry certainly heard us because he apologized and was practically running to the spare room even before Steve pretty much snarled at him through the door."

"Okay so that was Tuesday night. What happened today?" Danny asked as he cut the engine and the sweltering heat immediately began to invade the car.

"After Tuesday, I haven't felt _comfortable_ …" She waved a hand and he got the point.

"Ah, hence SuperSEALs _delightful_ mood all week.' Danny snickered again.

"Yeah, well, it's been a _tense _week for both of us." She admitted with a small grin. "So, last night about eleven thirty, we went out for a … _run,_" Catherine said pointedly, "figuring Jerry wouldn't offer to tag along."

"Very creative." Danny smiled. "On a mission, were you?"

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "After we got home, Steve explained to Jerry that he thought the threat was gone and he should be heading home. I think he really felt bad for agreeing to let Jerry stay because it …"

"Inhibited your recreational activities?" Danny offered.

Catherine chuckled. "Made me uncomfortable at home. So, Steve asked Jerry to leave. He left this morning. Danny?" She looked him in the eyes. "Don't let on to Jerry that you know, okay? I don't want him to feel bad. He kept apologizing and he couldn't look me in the eye for days as it is."

"You," Danny aimed a genuine smile at her, "Catherine Rollins, are a sweetheart. Not to mention a hell of a good sport. If I'd have pulled a stunt like that when I was married, Rachel would have sent Jerry packing on day one. And _I'd _have been on the sofa having, shall we say … a dry spell … never mind going for a _run_ at midnight."

Their chat was interrupted by Danny's cell. "Tell me we're done here, Steve, because I'm roasting like a freaking chicken in this car." He didn't hit speaker but at his "Thank God. Finally. See you in an hour." Catherine knew the case had been wrapped and they'd be back before dinner. She pulled out her own cell and made a call to order food for herself and Steve.

/

**Saturday 4:00 p.m. HQ**

Danny Williams looked down right jovial as he strode through the bullpen to his partner's office. Even thought they'd been called in for those few hours on a very high profile case, they had wrapped it quickly and had been promised Monday off unless something big broke. As soon as Danny and Catherine had returned from the stakeout, Steve had sent her, Kono and Chin home. "My report's finished. You done for the day?"

"Almost, I just need to email the status report to the governor and I'm leaving." Steve looked up, and catching Danny's amused expression, grew curious. "Why?"

"No reason. Just thought you might be _anxious_ to get home. Catherine called on our way back to order dinner so I figured you guys were …" Danny hesitated, a barely controlled snicker threatening to burst free, "gonna pick up take-out and have some Barry White time, since you have your house back to yourselves and all. Then I thought, you know, just in case …"

The dog eared book Danny tossed on Steve's desk landed with a soft plop as he turned and left the office chuckling.

"What the hell?" Steve looked at the title _'Teaching Your Child Boundaries'_ "Danny? Danny!" He called at his partner's retreating back.

Knowing his best friend would chase after him, Danny stopped just inside his own office. He was unable to control the bark of laughter that escaped Steve's look when he came through the glass door, book in hand.

"What," Steve pushed the book at his partner "is this?"

"Well, Babe, you know, you keep allowing these house-guests … myself not included because _I _am a _stellar_ guest … but, if you keep allowing people to crash with you, you eventually end up with a Jerry."

Steve ran a hand through his hair. Agreeing to let Jerry stay for those few days wasn't his finest decision. "You know he's gone, Danny, he left early this morning. And what's that got to do with a parenting book?"

"That, my clueless friend," Danny nodded at the book "has _everything_ to do with boundaries. I got that when Grace was about two. Jerry is not your average house guest. Jerry is suffering from a serious case of _'Wow! I'm friends with the cool kids'_. His crush on your girlfriend notwithstanding, he wants to _be_ you, and if you'd let him, he'd come right back over and move in. He's like the giant toddler you guys haven't had yet."

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." Steve's brows knitted.

"Then pay attention, Steven. Number one: your house-guest, for some misguided reason, idolizes you. He thinks you're the coolest kid in town. Number two:" Danny held up two fingers to demonstrate his point. "Even if it's Jerry with a harmless crush, he's got it bad for Catherine; and finally, number three; not only did you ignore my very sound advice by not telling him he needed to leave that very first day, you weren't firm enough with the _McGarrett Ground Rules_, like, I don't know … _when the door is closed, the grownups need privacy …"_ Danny couldn't hold back his laughter and his blue eyes shone with unshed tears.

Steve realized what his partner was talking about. "Catherine told you." He stated.

"It was pretty bad, huh?" Danny choked out.

"Bad? I don't know, Danny. Do you call Jerry mooning over Catherine and trailing after me calling me 'roomie', bad? Then it was bad." Steve lowered his voice, even in the empty office. "Do you call him going tongue-tied at seeing Catherine's bras and underwear in the laundry, bad?"

Steve frowned and continued, "How about him _banging_ on our bedroom door to say 'goodnight roomies' while we were having sex, and shocking the hell out of us?" He ran a hand behind his neck and huffed out a sigh. "Catherine jumped away like I was on fire." When Danny looked like he was about to speak, Steve held up a hand. "No, wait, because here's the best one: how about Catherine being so uncomfortable, between him by apologizing _daily _and her being afraid he'd interrupt us again that we didn't have sex again ..." He trailed off and grimaced. "… for _days_. And we actually _left the house_ first. Is _that_ bad? Then, yes, Danny, it was pretty bad."

"You realize what a lucky son of a bitch you are, right?" Danny shook his head.

"What?"

"Look, Catherine didn't start out to tell me, and I do not want all the gory details, but instead of being pissed … which she had every right to be, because you let a guy with a hero worship thing for you and a giant crush on her stay in her home without running it by her first … she dealt, and then ... went off on a _jaunt_ with you at midnight? That makes you lucky as hell."

"Her idea." Steve mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"The, ah, going outside to the beach last night. It was Catherine's idea." Steve smirked at the memory.

Danny clapped his partner on the shoulder. "He's gone, right?"

"Hell, yes."

"Then get outta here and go home to the best thing that ever happened to you."

Steve smiled what his partner would call his 'goofy grin' and grabbed his keys and weapon. "That she is, Danny." he agreed. "That she is.

.

**McGarrett Residence 4:45 p.m.**

"Catherine?" Steve called as he entered the house, tossing his keys on the coffee table.

"Upstairs!" As her voice reached him, Steve was already shrugging out of his button-down while taking the stairs two at a time.

"Hey!" He stopped just inside their bedroom. What's all this?"

Catherine was sitting cross legged on the bed wearing one of Steve's tank tops. She had a tray of food and plates in front of her; a bottle of wine and two glasses sat on her night table. "Dinner. I ordered it on my way back. Just cold sandwiches, but I figured we'd be too _occupied_ to go out tonight and I don't want to," she looked at him pointedly "waste time cooking."

"Great, I'm starving." Steve smiled and after removing his boots, joined her, leaning in to give her a kiss. "Like I said last night, I like the way you _strategize_, Rollins."

"Thank you. Now, eat, because I have after-dinner _plans_." She raised an eyebrow at him and his smile grew.

"I can eat later." Steve said around the bite of sandwich she'd fed him, as he picked up the tray of food and slid it onto the bedside chair. "We have three days to make up for."

"Well, technically, it's only been…" Catherine began with a chuckle, thinking back to that morning, after Jerry had left and before they'd gotten called in to work.

"Six and a half hours." Steve finished for her, his voice muffled by the T-shirt he was pulling off over his head.

"You timed it?" She laughed out loud at his suggestive expression but was more thrilled than she let on. "Steve, it was three days, we've gone ten months …"

"In different _hemispheres_, Cath, not while you were next to me, in our bed." Steve reached for her hand and, tugging her forward into his lap, kissed her again.

"Thought you were, um, ravenous, Commander?" She whispered against his lips.

His grin crinkled the corners of his eyes. "I am."

/

End. Thanks for reading!

/

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